Nature of Organization and Operations

6 Months Ended

Jun. 30, 2021

Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Nature of Organization and Operations

Nature of Organization and Operations

Akebia Therapeutics, Inc., referred to as Akebia or the Company, was incorporated in the State of Delaware in 2007. Akebia is a biopharmaceutical company with the purpose of bettering the lives of people living with kidney disease. Akebia’s lead investigational product candidate, vadadustat, is an oral therapy in development for the treatment of anemia due to chronic kidney disease, or CKD. Vadadustat is an oral hypoxia-inducible factor prolyl hydroxylase inhibitor, or HIF-PHI, designed to mimic the physiologic effect of altitude on oxygen availability. At higher altitudes, the body responds to lower oxygen availability with stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factor, or HIF, which can lead to red blood cell, or RBC, production and improved oxygen delivery to tissues. Vadadustat is approved and marketed in Japan as a treatment for anemia due to CKD in both dialysis-dependent and non-dialysis dependent adult patients under the trade name VafseoTM. The Company submitted a New Drug Application, or NDA, to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, or FDA, for vadadustat in March of 2021 for the treatment of anemia due to CKD in adult patients with CKD on dialysis, or DD-CKD, and adult patients with CKD not on dialysis, or NDD-CKD. The Company's NDA submission was accepted for filing by the FDA in May 2021 and at the time of filing the NDA, the FDA indicated that they were not currently planning to hold an Advisory Committee meeting to discuss the application for vadadustat. The FDA also assigned the application standard review and a Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) target action date of March 29, 2022. In addition, the Company has a commercial product, Auryxia® (ferric citrate), which is currently approved by the FDA and marketed for two indications in the United States: the control of serum phosphorus levels in DD-CKD adult patients and the treatment of iron deficiency anemia, or IDA, in NDD-CKD adult patients. Ferric citrate is also approved and marketed in Japan as an oral treatment for IDA in adult patients and the improvement of hyperphosphatemia in adult patients with DD-CKD and NDD-CKD under the trade name Riona (ferric citrate hydrate).

Since inception, the Company has devoted most of its resources to research and development, including its preclinical and clinical development activities, and providing general and administrative support for these operations. The Company began recording revenue from the U.S. sales of Auryxia and revenue from sublicensing rights to Auryxia in Japan to the Company’s Japanese partners Japan Tobacco, Inc. and its subsidiary Torii Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., collectively JT and Torii, on December 12, 2018 following the consummation of a merger with Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., or Keryx, or the Merger. Additionally, following regulatory approval of vadadustat in Japan, the Company began recognizing royalty revenues from Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, or MTPC, from the sale of Vafseo in August 2020. In February 2021, the Company entered into a royalty interest acquisition agreement with HealthCare Royalty Partners IV, L.P., or the Royalty Agreement, whereby the Company sold its right to receive royalties and sales milestones under its Collaboration Agreement with MTPC, or the MTPC Agreement, subject to certain caps and other terms and conditions (see Note 5 for additional information). The Company has not generated a profit to date and may never generate profits from product sales. Vadadustat and the Company’s other potential product candidates are subject to long development cycles, and the Company may be unsuccessful in its efforts to develop, obtain marketing approval for or market vadadustat and its other potential product candidates. If the Company does not successfully commercialize Auryxia, vadadustat or any other potential product candidate, it may be unable to achieve profitability.

The Company’s management completed its going concern assessment in accordance with ASC 205-40, Disclosure of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern, or ASC 205-40. The Company believes that its cash resources will be sufficient to allow the Company to fund its current operating plan through at least the next twelve months from the filing of this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. There can be no assurance, however, that the current operating plan will be achieved in the time frame anticipated by the Company, or that its cash resources will fund the Company’s operating plan for the period anticipated by the Company or that additional funding will be available on terms acceptable to the Company, or at all. The Company will require additional capital to pursue development and commercial activities related to Auryxia and vadadustat or any additional products and product candidates, including those that may be in-licensed or acquired. The Company expects to finance future cash needs through product revenue, public or private equity or debt transactions, payments from its collaborators, strategic transactions, or a combination of these approaches. However, adequate additional financing may not be available to the Company on acceptable terms, or at all. If the Company is unable to raise capital in sufficient amounts when needed or on attractive terms, it may not be able to pursue development and commercial activities related to Auryxia and vadadustat or any additional products and product candidates, including those that may be in-licensed or acquired.